An Integrated Account of Expert Perspectives on Functioning in Schizophrenia

An integrated and interdisciplinary care system for individuals with schizophrenia is essential, which implies the need for a tool that assesses the difficulties and contextual factors of relevance to their functioning, and facilitates coordinated working across the different professions involved in their care. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Sets (ICF-CS) cover these requirements. This study aimed to evaluate the content validity of the ICF-CSs for schizophrenia from the perspective of experts. Six three-round Delphi studies were conducted with expert panels from different professional backgrounds which have played a significant role in the treatment of individuals with schizophrenia (psychiatry, psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, social work and physiotherapy). In total, 790 experts from 85 different countries participated in the first round. In total, 90 ICF categories and 28 Personal factors reached expert consensus (reached consensus from four or more professional perspectives). All the categories in the brief version of the ICF-CS for schizophrenia reached consensus from all the professional perspectives considered. As for the comprehensive version, 89.7% of its categories reached expert consensus. The results support the worldwide content validity of the ICF-CSs for schizophrenia from an expert perspective and underline the importance of assessing functioning by considering all the components implied.